Listen to the interview here
Imagine living 2 or 3 thousand years ago, and you were on a quest for wisdom and truth.
Let’s say you lived in Asia or Africa.
It would have probably taken you several months or years to simply go out walking one day and find a master or two to learn from.
You can imagine meeting them in a cave deep within a rainforest.
Or maybe even an opulent palace protected by loyal guards.
Today, I met such a master.
And all I had to do was get on the Orange Line for an hour.
It was not a cave or palace in which I met this master.
It was a diner.
Weiler’s Delicatessen, West Hills, Los Angeles.
And the master’s name, Bernard S. Otis.
An 88 year old American with the energy and humour of a 25 year old man.
I have not laughed so much during an interview as I did talking with Bernie.
I met Bernie through the publisher of Glendale Hills Living magazine, Trevor Marca (thanks for the tip off Trevor).
Bernie is a professional speaker of sales and marketing, and has consulted for some well known companies when they were getting started, Tiffany’s in New York for example.
He also designed, built and supplied most of the major restaurants in the San Fernando Valley and Las Vegas.
He has met Walt Disney and consulted the Disney company.
He is also a certified hospice carer who, in his career, was once assigned to help out in the county morgue in Las Vegas when MGM hotel caught on fire.
Some 80 people were killed in that fire.
Bernie’s job included phoning all the families of the victims to inform them of the deaths.
Often he had to tell children that their parents had died.
Upon sitting down in the old style booths of Weiler’s, Bernie started telling jokes and stories and had me laughing out loud.
Stories and jokes with powerful messages.
As I type this, it inspires me to have met a man who has seen so much of life’s wholeness.
Bernie had brought along a copy of his book, signed it and gave to it me.
It’s hilarious and it captivated me immediately.
Within two pages I was inspired, laughing and even had a tear in my eye.
Bernie emphasised the importance of taking responsibility and that life is a journey.
We all take that journey and we all most certainly die.
So he says, I’ll let God worry about how I am going to die, and I’ll worry about how I’m going to live.
The book is dedicated to his late wife, Anna, who died recently from cancer.
Anna is internationally known for being a respected Teacher of the blind.
A great line from his book, “She loved me. There is no way that could’ve been an easy gig!”
Bernie shows us how to live life.
I think Elon Musk needs to see if he can wire up Bernie’s humour and zest for life as one of the best renewable energies on the planet.
My own quest for truth and wisdom has once again proved its worthwhileness, I encourage you to begin your own.
Bernie’s website http://seniormomentswithbernardotis.com/
Samuel Osborne is an Australian professional speaker and humorist. He speaks about living a meaningful life and trusting yourself. He is based in North Hollywood, California.
http://samuelosborne.com.au
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